Village gods of south india pdf

It is sweet because my mother was born in October. October is bitter because Ray, my godson, died in a one-car accident on the first day of the month. He was twenty-five years old and served our city as a f. Her writing is tantamount to fanning hatred and developing tensions wi. Henry St.

Clair Whitehead was born in New Jersey in He graduated from Harvard University in , having been in the same class as future American president Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was ordained as a deacon in Episcopal Church in Between and he served as acting archdeacon of the Virgin Islands, where he gathered much of the material he was to use in his speculative fiction. An early correspondent of fellow writer H. His collection, Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales , is regarded as a classic of horror literature.

Whitehead spent his later life in Dunedin, Florida, and died in , aged THE material for this account of the village gods of South India has been gathered almost entirely from my own observation and inquiry. I have been able to get little help from books, as this is, I think, the first attempt at dealing systematically with this aspect of Indian religion. It does not pretend to be anything like an exhaustive account of all the various rites and ceremonies observed in the worship of the village deities.

The variety of ritual and ceremonial in the different districts of South India is almost endless, and I have not attempted in this book to give an account even of all the various ceremonies that have come within my own knowledge. I believe, however, that all the main types of this particular form of Hinduism are included in the following pages, and that enough has been said to enable the reader to get a fairly complete idea of its general character and to compare it with similar forms of religion in other parts of the world.

I owe the drawings from which illustrations have been made to Mrs. Whitehead; while Miss Stephen, the Archdeacon of Madras, and other friends have most kindly supplied me with the photographs used for that purpose; and the Government of Madras has generously allowed me to use the plates for some of the illustrations which previously appeared in a bulletin that I wrote some years ago for the Madras Museum. A Glossary of Indian Terms and several Indices have been included in order to facilitate reference to the large amount of unfamiliar detail which the book contains.

THE worship of the village gods is the most ancient form of Indian religion. Before the Aryan invasion, which probably took place in the second millennium B. They believed the world to be peopled by a multitude of spirits, good and bad, who were the cause of all unusual events, and especially of diseases and disasters. The object of their religion was to propitiate these innumerable spirits. At the same time, each village seems to have been under the protection of some one spirit, who was its guardian deity.

Probably these village deities came into being at the period when the people began to settle down in agricultural communities. We may see in them the germs of the national deities which were so prominent among the Semitic races and the great empires of Egypt, Nineveh, and Babylon. Where the family developed into a clan, and the clan into a tribe, and the tribe into a nation, and the nation into a conquering empire, the god of the family naturally developed into an imperial deity.

But in ancient India, before the coming of the Aryans, the population seems to have been split up into small agricultural and pastoral communities. There were no nations and no conquering empires.

And it was not till the Aryan invaders had conquered North India and had settled down in the country, that there was in India any growth of philosophic thought about the world as a whole. The problem of the universe did not interest the simple Dravidian folk. They only looked for an explanation of the facts and troubles of village life. Their religion, therefore, did not advance beyond a crude animism and belief in village deities.

The earliest Indian philosophical systems arose in the sixth century B. Two of these developed into new religions hostile to Hinduism, namely Jainism and Buddhism, while others remained in the old faith. All exercised a profound influence on the thought of India and also modified religious practice in certain respects. On the other hand, the crude ideas and barbarous cults of the omnipresent aboriginal tribes, constantly pressing upon the life of the Aryans, found entrance into their religion at many points.

Caste arose and became hardened into the most rigorous system of class distinctions that the world has ever seen, inspired and justified by the doctrine of transmigration and karma. What we now call Hinduism, therefore, is a strange medley of the most diverse forms of religion, ranging from the most subtle and abstruse systems of philosophy to primitive forms of animism. For example, Karumariamman keeps away disease, while Kateriamman protects the village from evil spirits.

They might not paint a pretty picture, but to the believers they serve a purpose. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Skip to content Village Gods of the ancient South Indians One of the most ancient practices employed in South Indian villages was the worship of their gods.

It was not until the northern parts of India had been conquered and the Brahminic influence spread to the southern parts that there was a spurt in philosophic thought The problem of the universe did not interest the simple Dravidian folk. Interestingly, village deities, with very few exceptions, are female. With thanks to Henry Whitehead.

Like this: Like Loading EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Addeddate Call number AIN Camera 5D Copyright-evidence Evidence reported by University of Toronto scanning center for item thevillagegodsof00whituoft on Sep 13, ; no visible notice of copyright and date found; stated date is ; not published by the US government; Have not checked for notice of renewal in the Copyright renewal records. Reviewer: Krishna Pranav - favorite favorite favorite - February 8, Subject: Interesting book This book by Henry Whitehead is quite interesting; it details the rituals practiced in villages in South India.

It is hoped that with this Poleramma will be satisfied and leave the house. Kanaka Durgamma Kanaka Durgamma is responsible for cattle welfare and is appeased when there is cattle disease. At times she is also worshipped when there is any sickness among the people. There is a customary method to worship Kanaka Durgamma. Some woman become possessed Kanaka Durgamma's spirit and running to water will throw herself in.

The people rescue her. Thereafter she runs to a margosa tree and break off twigs will put them in her mouth as if she was a mad woman. The people ask the woman about her identity as they wish to know what spirit has taken possession of her.

Thereafter the people enquire about her demands. She puts her demand before the people and they are obeyed too. The carpenter of the village makes a wooden image from a branch of a margosa tree. When the branch is cut off it should not be allowed to touch the ground else it would be tainted. The image looks rude. It is around two feet tall and represents a woman with a sword in her hand.

The work should commence in the evening and should be completed before dawn. When the image is made it should be placed before water and kept there until the ceremonies are over. Meanwhile the Madigas make a booth in grove outside the village. This booth answers for the temple which the Goddess demands. Next day in the morning the village washer man takes the image from the water and carefully adorning it with jewels. Goddess Verdatchamma The story of Goddess Verdatchamma contains the unusual trait of human sacrifice.

When she lived on earth she and her husband did not reside together as she was born of the gods. This is a fact that is established in history. The fact that she did not dwell with her husband indicates an unusual condition in the society. There is a possibility that she was called Shakti because of her attitude. Verdatchamma gave money to construct the great tank which lies between two high hills.

There were two diggers. Every day they dug and every night the bank broke apart. The legend says that these two men were brothers who had discussed the matter and was quarrelling over it. While they were discussing, a voice came from the ground in the tank.

Two shepherd boys named Pedda Kambudu and Chinna Kambudu heard this. They reported it to Verdatchamma and offered to be the sacrifices themselves. Their request was that their memory should be in some way maintained.

The boys were killed and in their names two pipes were placed in the bank of the tank for discharge of water. The tank was thereafter completed without trouble. Origin of Dravidian lies in the local stories which are of the greatest importance. These are the only sources from which one can secure any-light on the history and development of the worship as well as the fundamental reasons for the development of the system. The legends of the Seven Sisters are similar to those relating to the other Dravidian gods of India.

The stories are also linked to the Hindu legends. Last Updated on :